In cases where an artery of the human or animal body has ruptured due to some trauma such as an accident or due to damage of the vessel wall due to stenosis or disease, it is desirable to, as soon as possible, deploy a stent graft across the rupture to isolate the artery wall, in that region, from blood flow in the artery. Where the artery includes a bifurcation such as the aortic bifurcation it is possible to place an aorto-uni-iliac stent graft extending from a portion of the aorta above the rupture into one of the iliac arteries, however, such a procedure does not completely isolate the rupture region because of cross flow of blood in small arteries between the iliac and femoral arteries.
It may be possible to deploy a stent graft with a bifurcation through one of the iliac arteries and then deploy a leg extension stent graft into the other of the other iliac arteries to connect with the bifurcated stent graft, however, this can be a relatively long and more complex procedure and blood loss through the rupture during the procedure can be serious.
It is the object of this invention to provide a stent graft arrangement which will assist in over coming excessive blood loss in the case of an emergency rupture in the case of a vessel incorporating a bifurcation and to provide an option for further treatment or at least providing a useful alternative to a surgeon.
Throughout this specification the term “distal” with respect to a portion of the aorta, a deployment device or a prosthesis means the end of the aorta, deployment device or prosthesis further away in the direction of blood flow away from the heart and the term “proximal” means the portion of the aorta, deployment device or end of the prosthesis nearer to the heart. When applied to other vessels similar terms such as caudal and cranial should be understood.
In our earlier patent application, PCT Patent Publication No. WO 98/53761 entitled “A Prosthesis and a Method Deploying a Prosthesis” there is disclosed an introducer for a stent graft which can be used to deploy the stent graft according to the present invention. This feature and other features disclosed in WO 98/53761 are incorporated herewith in their entirety into this specification.